To Art School or Not to Art School: A Creative Exercise in Sequential Art

Posted on August 20, 2012 by cheezNH

Ah, the age old question.

Simply listing the pros and cons of both sides isn’t going to get you anywhere (previously, Myung wrote a great bullet point article on this, so check that out too!). There’s successful artists coming from both camps – to list a few, Naoko Takeuchi (Sailormoon) was a pharmacology major and a licensed pharmacist before her first hit Sailor V was published, and Mari Yamazaki (Thermae Romae) was an art history major who studied abroad in Firenze. It’s a difficult decision, really, and a personal one at that.

SO what can I tell you? Not much, since I’m not trying to make a career out of traditional arts and didn’t go to art school – in fact, I was a biology major in college, and the closest thing to an art class I’ve ever taken was photography in high school.

Instead, I asked three of my friends for their input and samples. You know, people who are actually planning to go in the field and are studying for it. For this comparison exercise, I had three students – one university, two art school – do a short comic based on the same manuscript. The whole point of this exercise is to see how three kids from three different educational backgrounds would engage the audience, pace the story, and deliver a message from the same source.

I gave all three of them the same excerpt from Haruki Murakami’s Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End Of The World, and told them to have fun with it. That’s it.

Here’s a little background for those of you unfamiliar with the book…(from Wikipedia): A newcomer to ‘the End of the World’, a strange, isolated walled Town. The narrator is in the process of being accepted into the Town. The narrator is assigned quarters and a job as the current “Dreamreader”: a process intended to remove the traces of mind from the Town. He goes to the Library every evening where, assisted by the Librarian, he learns to read dreams from the skulls of unicorns.

Comics, or sequential art is the art of storytelling, and no story is complete without the 5Ws: Who, What, When, Where, and Why. This is how this short scene is broken down:

Who is it about? – There are two characters in this story: the “Dream Reader”, and his assistant, the “Librarian”.
What is happening? – The Dream Reader is questioning the purpose of his job and the Librarian is offering advice on it.
When did this happen? – When the Dream Reader was at work.
Where did it take place? – at the library.
Why did this happen? – Because the Dream Reader has to do his daily job.

With that, here’s a sample that I did:

Cheez Hayama’s rendition of Dream Reader

Simple, right? Now let’s see how each artist rendered this situation:

1. Mai K. Nguyen [portfolio] [webcomic]
4th year Graphic Design major at California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo
Favorite comic: Kaijyuu No Kodomo

Mai K. Nguyen’s Rendition of “Dream Reader”

[Click on the thumbnails to read it full size!]

Mai goes to a research university that is known for agricultural studies, engineering, architecture and design. Aside from her graphic design classes, she took general education classes such as history, geology, and classical literature.
“I know people hate general education classes, but I think it’s a crucial source of inspiration and knowledge, and it really broadens your perspective,” says Mai, and that’s apparent in her art style. Mai’s art is very detailed, dreamy colored, with a strong emphasis on typography – all an accumulation of what interests, inspires, and moves her.
In this piece, keep an eye out for the protagonist’s facial expressions and body language, as it illustrates emotional fatigue and confusion that he is going through as a dream reader.

2. Blankd [webcomic] [tumblr]
2nd year Game Art & Design Major at the Art Institute, Los Angeles/North Hollywood
Favorite comic: Berserk, Eyeshield 21, JING

Blankd’s rendition of “Dream Reader”

[Click on the thumbnails to read them full size!]

Blankd goes to one of the leading private art schools in the country – The Art Institutes. Students in the Game Art and Design major are initially trained in classical art studies such as drawing and color theory, and then move onto computer graphics, animation, and 3D modeling. “School doesn’t necessary guarantee success but it can help a great deal in minimizing problems and addressing misconceptions as well as breaking bad art habits,” according to Blankd. “I feel that art school is necessary for most to have a good understanding of sequential art, (but) I should still note that the following classes are helpful: story boarding, background and layout, character design, character acting/gesture and optionally, a foundations of animation class.”
Blankd’s art style is marked by emotive gestures and facial expressions – keep an eye out for the direction of the conversation and power balance that the two characters express with their hands and eyes..

3. Yujin Lee [portfolio]
4th year Visual Communications major at School of Art Institute, Chicago
Favorite Comic: Blankets, Fullmetal Alchemist, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Yujin Lee’s rendition of “Dream Reader”

[Click on the thumbnails to read them full size!]

Yujin goes to one of the nation’s biggest accredited independent art and design school. Prior to attending SAIC, Yuj was a math major at a different university – so she’s a good mix of both art school and non-art school. SAIC is unique in the sense that the students have the freedom of which classes to take, rather than moving along a set syllabus; aside from her major classes, she has taken courses in comics and graphic design, which “really opened (her) eyes to the little nuances of a piece that either makes it or breaks it. The little details that no one really notices, but without it, it just wouldn’t be complete.”
Yujin’s wide spectrum of studies results in bold stylization with heavy textures, and unique storyboarding – this piece is short and sweet, with a strong closing!

Now that I’ve given you input from three different artists, allow me ask you this: to art school or to not art school? And be sure to let me know the answer when you’ve figured it out!

About cheezNH

Cheez Hayama is a cook by day, a comic hobbyist by night. When she's not stressing out over flat cream puffs and burnt caramel, she draws her webcomic It's A Dead Man's Party.

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Weekly Artist Post: Will Art School Help Me Draw Better?

Posted on August 12, 2012 by Ki Hiwatari

Note: This post may not reflect the views of everyone because it is written according to personal opinions.

Simply put, ‘yes’. But then how much it helps depends on different individuals. Going into art school is like an investment. It’s the same as paying and earning a degree in medical studies, where you learn some skills and apply those skills after you graduate. So the question becomes ‘Is it worth the money and effort to go into art school?’ In this post I will briefly talk about the pros and cons about going to, and not going to art school.

Personally I have never been to art school, and no one I know in my family tree draws. I mainly learn drawing by reading manga and copying whatever I liked at first, and then later I began to draw random things from my imagination. However, I will try to be as objective as possible in this post.

THE BASICS OF DRAWING – Art School: 1 vs Self-taught: 0

When we talk about the basics of drawing, such as perspectives, proportions, camera angles, shading, media application, I find it easier to learn when there is an instructor, or at least someone to guide us. Of course, that does not mean one cannot learn these things on his own, but learning by oneself may talk a long time to try out everything, while going to class and listening to an instructor may enable one to learn the basics of drawing better and faster.

FEEDBACK FOR YOUR WORK – Art School: 1 vs Self-taught: 0

Going to an art school means you can have your work looked over by professional instructors and receive quality feedback for improvement. If you are not in art school or know any of those artists, the only things you can do is to ask for feedback from family, friends or online. Sometimes you can find valuable comments from online peers, but from my personal experience, most (most, not all) people online either praise your work or trash your work all the way. I find comments which point out your mistakes and provide suggestions on how to correct the mistakes most helpful.

FREEDOM OF STYLE – Art School: 0 vs Self-taught: 1

With the trend towards digital nowadays, many schools offer more courses on digital art, and more modern artists choose to use the digital medium rather than traditional. However, I can’t help but notice that many people have a similar art “style” or the same way of colouring. Most of these people have been involved in art school in some way. This made me think that instructors in art school teach a standard method of working on a type of art, and a lot of students just blindly follow. On the other hand, if an artist is given the opportunity to explore different ways to draw, I think he is more likely to develop his own unique style. Style is a personal thing, and even if you have superb art skills you may not have your own style.

MONEY – Art School: 0 vs Self-taught: 1

Yes, money – the source of most problems and also the solution to most problems. There are more and more people who think “I learn to draw manga. I will become famous. I will earn lots of money.” I think this case only applies to a small portion of people. Going to art school is a huge investment of time and money, but after you graduate, will you be able to earn a living through art? This is a question one must carefully consider before going into art school. It may take a long time before you are able to sell your art for a stable income. Therefore, if you are not really serious in the art business, I would recommend getting a normal job with a stable income so that you can live comfortably while funding your drawing hobby.

———-

There may be more pros and cons for art school and not going to art school, but the above are the major ones I can think of right now. The bottom line is, going to art school has its benefits, but these will only help if you are seriously getting into the art industry. For people who like to draw but are not completely devoted into drawing, it is better to take a few art courses to learn the basics, but the rest will be fine with simply exploring the art world by yourself.

Lastly, it is never too late to go into art school. It is not a must to get into art school as soon as you qualify to go into college. You can try it out, then try learning on your own and see which method you like more. Afterall going to art school is just another resource. The most important thing is to be happy drawing the things you like

Now, keep getting those manga pages out~

About Ki Hiwatari

Ki is a full-time structural engineer who enjoys drawing manga/manhua as a hobby (but has too little spare time). Current series - My Sparkling Prince-sama and Le Diable are running on MangaMagazine.

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Weekly Artist Post: To Art School or Not to Art School…

Posted on August 5, 2012 by Myung

High school is done and you’re a fish ready to move into a much bigger pond. What could be a more important question than what kind of college you go to? Now compound the question with the fact that you want to pursue a passion not likely to make you a millionaire, heck, it might not even pay the bills, and it’s also highly competitive with more critics than you can shake a stick at. Well, the answer seems obvious to someone who’s been creating from their soul since they were knee high to the curb: Art School!

Yes, that was me, it feels like not too long ago, and to my art teachers it was a no brainer. But to my parents, it was up for discussion. If you’re finding yourself in the same situation, or will be in the non too distant future, the correct path is hard to find, hard to take, and will be constantly changing to make matters worse. For me, personally, I decided to keep art as a private passion and appease my right brain by pursuing an engineering degree. A few years later, after two degrees, tons of research, and a 100 page dissertation , guess what…? I went to art school.

Getting to the point, it depends on the stage you are in your life, what field you want to enter, and how much you’re willing to sacrifice. Yes, don’t let anyone sugar coat this. So here are the bullet points, take ‘em with a grain of salt:

Art School

Totally immersed in technique and process (so important)
Other art students around to inspire and drive you
Specialized services to help you find internships in your field
Depending on what school, recruiters will make a Bee line to your campus for talent
A lot of artists out there, highly competitive. EVERYONE wants to be a concept artist.
Not all fine art schools have classes in business or any other disciplines, which in this era is crucial.
Your portfolio is everything! There really isn’t the “Harvard” of art schools, so no one really cares where you graduated from. What matters is your work. The proof is in the pudding.
Tech art schools are good for learning software and learning to market yourself, but are NOT good at teaching fundamentals. Having taught at one, I cannot stress this enough. DO NOT go to one unless you are already proficient in the basics and have shit load of drive. DO NOT let the admissions reps fool you!!!

Not Art School

Grow in a different field that could potentially relate/better your art (engineering is surprising akin to animation)
Always good to have a back up plan. With a graduate degree you can teach classes while you’re between contracts.
Meeting students outside your discipline. What big successful studio nowadays was founded solely by art students?
Potentially more expensive, especially private schools.
If you do pursue art, you’ll still have to take non related general education courses.
Chance for interdepartmental work. The university I went to just created a degree that merged the Com Sci department with the fine arts department. Perfect program for a Tech Artist.
If you do decide to pursue a graduate degree, there are more options.

And there it is. Hope you found my post helpful, or entertaining at the very least.

About Myung

Born in Korea and grew up in New York. Currently resides in the foggy city of San Francisco while working as an animator at Electronic Arts. My comic, Simon Sues on Manga Magazine.

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